The present disclosure generally relates to touch interface devices and more particularly to apparatus and methods of rendering both tactile feedback and audible sound via an appendage, such as a finger, sliding along a controlled touch surface.
In the modern electronic world the senses have been broken up into separate channels from each other. Devices have dedicated hardware for each piece of the sensory feedback experience, and it is only through careful synchronization and design that unified sensory experiences are presented to the user. Take, for example, receiving a call on a smartphone. First, an audio speaker rings, then, the visual display lights up and presents visual information identifying the caller. Once connected, the microphone records sound, while the speaker starts playing back audio from the person on the other end. If it is a video call, then the camera also starts recording and playing back video from the other person as well. What seems like a routine, almost intuitive event to the user is actually a complicated electronic series of signals and events.
There is a natural inclination to take notice of things buzzing or making sound, as when the phone starts ringing. Users of cellular technology are naturally inclined to gather complex information from reading a visual display, such as when the caller's information is presented on screen. Users know that touching something directly should produce an action on it, as when answering the call. Also, users naturally know how to carry on a conversation with someone they can both hear and see, such as when talking over a video call. Each of these actions are routines that users commonly encounter in the world.
The synchronized audio-visual paradigm has come to dominate electronic media for nearly a century. In its basic form, a visual display (such as a table, television, computer monitor, or movie screen) is synchronized in time with dedicated audio reproduction (anything from a single speaker to 5.1 surround sound or even more). This combined audio-visual paradigm has been so successful in reproducing realistic and informative experiences that most users would hardly give the technical details a second thought. Users simply get lost in a TV show or movie, and accept the audio-visual feedback as a temporary reality. While typically a passive interaction, it can easily be made more interactive. Take, for example, video games, which render real-time graphics and audio in response to user input. With only limited input, such as pressing a few buttons on a controller, the entire experience becomes much more immersive than simply watching and listening to a movie. Indeed, many videogames attempt to push the realism factor even further, and include basic forms of tactile feedback.
While this audio-visual paradigm is dominant for sensory output devices, current technology does not provide for an analogous tactile-audio paradigm or a tactile-audio-visual paradigm, that is, a system which can synchronously produce tactile vibrations and audible sound originating and emanating from the exact physical location of a user's fingertip on a surface Therefore, a need exists for a system that will allow users to experience tactile and audio feedback simultaneously.